Cloak and Dagger, Thunder and Lightning
by ManWithoutAHat
Summary: 5000 years ago a King fought a great evil, but was barred from killing it by the judges, his creations. Now the King is dead and the Judges gone the enemy marches on us and the kingdom's hope lies with the King's reborn soul. If only we knew where it was!
1. Chapter 1

Rufus adjusted his beret five degrees to the left and inspected it in the polished surface of his shield.

"It doesn't look any better than it did five minutes ago Cruthest; your face, that is, the hat looks fine,"

"Bah, Luther you're just jealous, that pretty wench at the floated bloat didn't seem to mind!"

"Rufus that was a whore she didn't like you she just- Who goes there!" Rufus shifted his gaze after his friend's in alarm, his inexpertly applied beret falling off his head.

"Just a weary traveler," the dark figure who had appeared rather suddenly replied. "Might I speak with the head of the household about lodging a room?" Rufus shifted uneasily, the figure's voluminous cloak whipped about in the brisk lowland wind, making it difficult to tell the stranger's size or even species.

"Sorry," called Luther, who had assumed the role of spokesman for the two 3rd gate guards. "The _King _is a little under the weather, you'll have to call back later," The figure took another step closer and Luther slowly moved his hand to the embossed, silver hilt of his sword. "Alternatively, you could come in and wait in one of our basement level apartments until the King is feeling better," as he spoke Luther's hand nudged Rufus, who also moved his sword to the ready.

"Maybe I'll just go in, he'll want to see me, we're old friends," explained the figure genially.

"I'm afraid that really isn't an option," as he spoke Luther's face was far more impassive than he felt, a veteran soldier of two years, Luther hadn't got that way by underestimating dangerous people and some long buried instinct told him this mysterious stranger was very dangerous.

"That wasn't a question," whispered the autumn wind, caressing his neck gently as the stranger withdrew her katana from his heart. Luther gasped, tried to draw a breath and lost blood instead. Frozen wide in shock, his eyes drifted to the floor of his post where Rufus scrabbled frantically at his throat as the life drained out of him through the neat slash in his jugular. Luther lurched towards their attacker, cleared his sword from its scabbard and slashed at the stranger at the same time, it was the last blow of his life and every rapidly draining resource he could martial was behind it.

Rufus watched in horror as his friend made one last, desperate slash at the stranger, watched in incomprehension as the stranger effortlessly leaned around the slash and caught Luther as he fell forward, lowering the guard gently to the floor. He was still confused when the stranger bent over, picked something blue up then walked slowly towards him. As she lowered the beret he'd always hated over his eyes he was still just as confused but the struggle to care was getting harder and harder as his vision faded and his limbs grew numb.

He stopped watching.

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER IN THE PALACE!" The Sergeant roared enthusiastically running down the gilded corridor, buckling his sword belt around his waist as he ran.

"INTRUDER!" he explained helpfully to the gaggle of maids he barreled into, upsetting the day's laundry. Reaching the East Courtyard he ran up to his assembled squad, each one snapped to attention, the morning sun gleaming off an array of polished helms and shields. Outwardly the Sergeant remained impassive, his imperious features seemingly hewn from granite.

"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP YOU LAYABOUTS! THE 3RD GATE HAS BEEN OVERRUN, ITS GUARDS SLAIN; WE ARE TO SEARCH THE EASTERN GARDEN FOR SIGNS OF THE INTRUDER! THE INTRUDER IS REPORTED TO BE OF SLIGHT BUILD, A VIERA AND WIELDS A KATANA, IT IS LIKELY WE ARE FACING AN ASSASSIN AND A DANGEROUS ONE AT THAT, BE ON YOUR GUARD!" roared the Sergeant as his heart swelled with pride.

"YES SIR!" roared the squad, equally enthusiastic

"ALRIGHT THEN LET'S MOVE OUT!" he shouted gruffly. As he led his soldiers into battle he roared at some loitering servants to reassure himself that he wasn't going soft.

Calea nocked an arrow to her bow and followed after her sergeant, taking her place as the van's ranged support. As the sharpest pair of eyes in her squad (and all the other squads too she insisted loudly to anyone who would listen) she knew a lot was expected of her in this mission. Historically, Calea's tribe, the Valrya, has always had strong ties with the royal family. Her Mother, Grandmother and their Grandmothers had lead the King's armies through the tendriled, sinuous depths of Zedlai to deliver crushing flank attacks against his enemies, in times of peace the Valrya guarded the King's palace, no building could be considered safe unless Viera eyes watched the walls. Suddenly a flutter of black caught her eye.

"There! By the fountain!" The black flutter ducked behind the fountain as Calea sent an arrow howling past it, renocking in an instant, Calea followed the rest of her squad after the intruder as the blood of her ancestors sung.

The hunt was on.

Her long legs drove her past her cohorts and soon Calea was at the head of the pack. Sprinting towards the fountain, a giant stone behemoth, she grabbed the lip of the fountain and slid around after the intruder.

Catching sight of the fleeing intruder ahead; Calea discarded her bow and drew a long bladed knife from the sheath on her leg and sprinted after her.

"Stop!" she called and when the intruder actually did she forgot to follow her example and crashed into her. Grappling for a hold on her prey she felt two heavy boots thump into her stomach and was launched onto her back. Rolling onto her feet, the intruder drew a katana from underneath the billowing cloak and circled slowly as Calea scrabbled to her feet, clutching her knife in a reverse grip. Parrying Calea's first slash the intruder stepped in for a jab and danced out of the way of Calea's counter, straight into an arrow. Spinning around the intruder caught site of a second squad of guards cutting off her escape route. She jumped away from another slash from the sniper and tumbled under a bolt of lightning, heralding the dispatchment of a palace mage. As another arrow thudded into her thigh the intruder swayed slightly and gambled on one last offensive, suddenly she launched a vicious assault; stumbling backwards Calea parried overhand after thrust after slash before sensing an opening As the intruder over extended an inch to far into a slash, Calea leaned in and her knife slid in between the ribs of her opponent. The intruder gasped and coughed, the katana dropped from nerveless fingers and the intruder sagged and fell into Calea's arms. Calea heard a deep rattling sigh and knew the other woman was dying.

"Who are you?" she demanded into the hood of the clock

"Who do you serve?" She yelled, the intruder groaned and her head bumped into Calea's chest, as she fell her hood fluttered in the air briefly and was left behind by the face it should have hid, a finely featured human female, skin pale with blood loss. As the implications hit her Calea went almost as pale

"It's not her!" She yelled at the milling crowd of guards

"It's a human! There are two! Two intruders!"

The second intruder watched the scene unfold from the balcony and something flickered in her flint colored eyes. Having discarded her cloak to evade a patrolling squad the intruder was dressed in the loose, dark wrappings favored by Viera of her profession, revealing a lithe figure, the wiry muscles of a warrior invisible but evident in her efficient gait, similar to a panther's. Slinking purposefully down the ostentatious hallway she passed room after room until she found the one she was searching for. She stood in front of the (like everything else in the palace, heavily gilded) door for an instant as though remembering something then pushed through, revealing a set of apartments clearly unused for years. The intruder walked through the living room, ignoring expensive (gilded) furniture draped in cotton to ward off dust and moved into the bedroom.

Dominating the room was a massive, four poster bead, still made with silk sheets but the intruder ignored that too. She moved past the bed and found herself gazing into a mirror, cunningly worked into the wall itself and surrounded by decorative wooden inlays. The mirror revealed a surprisingly young Viera, her hair still only shoulder length, downy ears twitching to catch the far off sound of panic, dressed literally to kill. Wrapped head to toe in black silk weapons were strapped to every convenient location, knives, her katana, poisons and the antidotes all cleverly concealed in various hidden pouches, betrayed only by the slightest of bulges on an otherwise completely predatory frame. Softly, a gloved hand reached towards one of the inlays, a traditional scene depicting the Viera matriarch Vesperia and the Human warrior Anoclaius facing each other in combat. Deftly the hand pushed on the carvings, lowering Anoclaius's sword and pushing away Vesperia's staff. Then she bent the two figures towards each other at the waist, as the wooden lips met, an ancient mechanism clicked into place and the mirror slid down to reveal an ancient stone passageway. The intruder pushed her mask up and padded down the passageway, the soft fabric of her shoes making no sound on the dusty stones.

Abruptly the passage came to an end, a stone wall with a hand wheel embedded nearby. The intruder walked up, placed both hands and twisted, testing her strength against the accumulated rust. As the wheel turned, the wall sunk into the ground, revealing the back of two way mirror, giving the intruder a view into the room she was about to enter. Richly appointed, even for the royal palace, the light sparkled and gleamed from every available surface. All this was to be expected, the King's chambers was the heart of the palace, its reason for existing and if its builders could have stolen the moon away from the sun and crafted it into furniture then they would have, even if the King was not, nor would he ever again be awake to enjoy his lavish surroundings. The intruder shifted her gaze downwards towards the single most expensive bed in Jylland and the man who had slept upon it for five thousand years.

The King did not appear to be an old man. His features were unscarred from age, and his face was clean of stubble. Golden hair splashed playfully over milky white skin, ending before it reached eyes that were oblivious to the world outside him. A straight nose, perhaps a shade too long but one that would find its place given a little more time to grow pointed the way towards the royal mouth. There a slight smile chased across full, red lips that might have looked petulant or conceited on another, but the King merely appeared content, as though something of great import had just been accomplished. Apart from the insensible King the bedroom was deserted, as it had been for the last five thousand years apart from the occasional maid. The intruder applied a little pressure to the mirror and it swung outwards, she stepped silently onto the bed and slid her back down the headboard until she sat next to the King, her legs folded up against her stomach.

The intruder's ears twitched and she became aware of the sound of heavy boots clattering against the stone floor of the corridor, as she listened the sound grew steadily louder and was accompanied by frenzied shouts.

"I'm…sorry," she whispered as the heavy oaken door burst open and guards poured in lead by a furious Moogle clad in the heavy armor of a knight. As the Moogle drew his blade and leaped towards her, the Assassin let a thin dagger slip from her sleeve into her hand and plunged it into the King's chest. As the Moogle's blade arced towards her in a killing blow the assassin flashed and was gone. The Moogle stared at his weapon, expecting to see an impaled assassin his eyes met only a scrap of black silk and a single drop of blood. Hastily he realized he was tracking mud and jumped off the edge of the royal bed before realizing far there were far larger issues to be concerned with.

"The King…" he cleared his throat and tried again, adjusting his helmet.

"The King… is dead," he reported solemnly

"Kupo," he added, just as solemnly.

Far away, in a dark and twisted cave in a dark and twisted corner of Jylland a bright flash of light temporarily blinded the robed Nu mou who had called it. A hand, gnarled with age reached up and rubbed two black eyes, nestled like beetles in the folds and wrinkles of his ancient face, until their vision was restored. When he opened them they revealed a Viera standing in front of him clad in dark silk and panting heavily, a light gash marked her stomach.

"Did…You…Want…to leave it any later?" she hissed between breaths. "I very nearly died," she added gesturing at the cut.

"Well perhaps if you hadn't spent so long reminiscing," suggested the Nu mou mildly. "Regardless, the act is done, we must concern ourselves with the next obstacle," he continued offering the Viera a cup of tea and taking one for himself from the nearby desk, which she accepted.

"Very well, where did the soul reappear?"

"Ah…" The Nu mou took a sip from his cup.

"You mean assassinating the King was the easy part?" The Viera sipped her tea and wished for something stronger. Her companion shook his head as rapidly as his advanced age would allow.

"No, no it shouldn't too difficult, it's just the soul reappeared somewhere rather… exotic."

"Exotic?" the Nu mou nodded

"Yes, I don't suppose you've heard of a little place called Earth?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Good Morning Lieutenant,"

"Good morning Captain, any new orders?" The Captain, a middle aged man fighting a losing battle with his waistband, smiled gently.

"No we're still on standby, why don't you take Today off? Everyone else has," as the Captain strolled off in search of his favored bakery the Golden haired Lieutenant sighed and wandered away from Fort Bevernia in search of a certain Corporal. Fort Bevernia was were military careers went to die, a hold over from an older time the centrally located Fort was now as essential to the defense of the country as the nearby amusement park. Having not received orders other than standby for forty years, Fort Bevernia was widely regarded as a safe place to tuck away people who had committed some insult to someone powerful but were too talented to discharge immediately, instead they were transferred to Fort Beveria for a few years until whoever they had annoyed forgot what they did to annoy them. Lieutenant De Lys was one such individual and disapproved heartily of the policy. In fact Lieutenant De Lys disapproved of anything that got in the way of her doing her job and was not averse to informing the people around her of this. That was part of the reason she had managed to get herself into this situation in the first place but De Lys had never been one to dwell on the past. Nodding curtly to the sentry, who could generously be described as on duty; she shrugged on her leather coat and stepped out into the snow.

St. Ivalice was by no means a bad town. The streets were narrow and paved with cobblestones, the picturesque little shops jostled for elbow room like puppies begging for attention, entreating her to enter them with pretty colors and dozens of aromas. A waft of fresh bread from the bakery here, the heady, inky, character of fresh papers from the news agency there, somewhere nearby a pie was baking. No it wasn't a bad town at all; in fact thirty or forty years from now De Lys could see herself retiring here. But that was a long time from now, she hadn't joined the army to read newspapers and eat pies but that was all she seemed able to do these days.

Aside from meeting twice weekly for training exercises, the garrison at St. Ivalice had no formal duties and none of its members went out of there way to find more. In fact until she had arrived the training had only happened once a week, she had lobbied (nagged) the Captain incessantly until he had allowed her to instruct the Fort's thirty two "combat ready" soldiers in the finer points of small unit tactics in addition to the weekly fitness session. The only problem was getting those thirty two soldiers to attend. Due to a quirk in her transferral De Lys was technically not a part of the Bevernia command structure, rather she was attached as a 'special advisor' and as such was unable to directly reprimand any of the soldiers; instead her only option was to refer the matter to the Captain who was inclined to write off such minor matters as the entire garrison failing to report for duty as an honest mistake.

The unfortunate result was that the soldiers regarded their earnest new officer as an amusing oddity rather than an authority figure. Stopping in front of a chocolate store Iris De Lys examined herself critically and came away unsatisfied. She didn't see the wide, startlingly discolored grey eyes, the silky, shoulder length hair whipping around her head in the brisk winter wind, the milky white skin or even the lithe figure years of training had bestowed upon her. What she saw was the nicely tailored but undoubtedly civilian coat, the complete absence of any kind of fire arm and the fact that the nearest enemy soldier was a little over 30,000 kilometers away. Iris sighed and entered the shop. She bought a candy bar.

Continuing down the street, cautiously biting around the hazelnuts in her chocolate Iris headed for the library. She abhorred hazelnuts but the only brand of chocolate stocked in St. Ivalice was littered with them, a lesser woman might have chosen to acclimatize to a different chocolate bar but Iris would be damned before she would let a nut dictate what sort of candy she ate.

"Morning Lieutenant,"

"Good morning Mr. Clemens," She nodded at the old man who ran the only library in St. Ivalice.

"Looking for Corporal Richter?" he asked, not looking up from the pile of dusty tomes he was cataloguing.

"I suppose so, is he in the back?" Her reply caused the librarian to look up from his work and regard her through the silver half moon glasses he favored.

"…Yes, down in fiction, why don't you take a look around while you're there you might find something catches your eye,"

"I might as well, thank you," Mr. Clemens watched her move off in search of the Corporal and sympathized, books were a pale substitute to a creature of action, he knew that better than anybody.

Corporal Leonard Richter should have been a poet or perhaps a historian or revered novelist. Whatever he should have been Iris was certain that he it wasn't his destiny to be a soldier. She found him in the same position she normally found him, ensconced in between the A-H and the H-O shelves of the fiction area surrounded by neat stacks of his beloved books and rather less neat stacks of his own notes, his dark hair flopping over his eyes in a manner she found intensely irritating. Although she had been unable to prove it conclusively, Iris suspected Richter was writing a book and wondered what it was about.

"Morning Lieut," he greeted her cheerfully without looking up from something called _A Brief History Of The Letter E_.

"Is that anyway to greet an officer?" she snapped, but the reprimand lacked its usual fire.

"Terribly sorry M'am, I meant _Good_ morning Lieut," he replied sincerely, still not looking up. She sighed and sunk down next to him.

"Close enough, what are you doing?"

"Reading. You?"

"Very little, there's very little _to _do,"

"Did you try yelling at someone? That always seems to cheer you up,"

"Corporal, does anybody ever tell you how funny you are?"

"Not recently no,"

"That's good because you aren't," After that they were both silent for a while, Richter continued reading and Iris counted all the books whose author she had never heard of. The answer was all of them. Finally he selected a book from the top of one of his piles and handed it to her.

"Try this, you might like it,"

"What's it about?" she regarded the book suspiciously, it was old and bound in cracked, tanned leather, it had a buckle on it to keep it shut and looked more like a journal than a book.

"I don't know," he replied offhandedly, opening another book and comparing something within it to the other one in his lap.

"Then how do you know I'll like it?" She asked, still holding it at arm's length.

"I don't," Richter replied in a deceptively calm tone. "Hence the use of the word 'might',"

"I'm not going to read it if the only chance I'm going to like it is a 'might'" she asserted and crossed her arms.

"Look, you can read the book or sit there for a few hours, or read a different book, or leave. The possibilities are endless, chose wisely" Disappointed that he elected not to continue the argument Iris kept her arms crossed for a few moments more than reluctantly picked up the book. She opened it and flicked through a few more pages.

She chose.

Richter stood up and stretched.

"Well I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow M'am," she looked up in surprise.

"Already? I was under the impression you spent all day in this place,"

"I do, I did, and now it's six o'clock you should think about heading home too. You can take that home with you, you know you just have to promise to bring it back," Startled Iris looked out the window and realized the sun had almost completely disappeared.

"I know, I was just-six O'clock?"

"Six O'clock see you tom" suddenly the library door burst open and a soldier in olive fatigues walked through, brandishing an assault rifle and yelling loudly in a harsh tongue.

"GET DOWN!" Iris tackled Richter behind a shelf as the soldier spotted them and loosed a burst after them from his rifle

"Who is that?" whispered Richter, following after De Lys who was crawling away from the position the soldier had seen them at.

"Dunno, but he's an enemy, stay here and distract him," she moved off in a crouching run, keeping low to avoid detection.

Murmuring a prayer to whichever deity happened to be listening Leonard selected a particularly weighty tome, stuck his head up, caught sight of the soldier near the entrance and hurled the book at him, ducking down to avoid the return hail of bullets. Moving along the shelf, he selected another book and threw it, without bothering to look up this time, diving to the ground to avoid the bullets that ripped through the shelf. Rather than allow his opponent time to move, the soldier elected to keep spraying bullets, hoping that if one bullet could kill someone, fifty bullets must be fifty times more likely to work. Unable to escape, Leonard pressed himself into the ground and tried to make as small a target as possible. Suddenly, he heard the dull thump of flesh on bone and the bullets stopped. Raising his eye to one of the many holes in the shelf he saw De Lys standing over the unconscious enemy soldier massaging her wrist. Leonard jogged over as she scooped up the man's rifle and handed his pistol to Leonard.

"I had a look through the second story window, I don't know how but it looks like they got a sizeable force of paratroopers through the Eastern air defenses, our best bet is to hole up here and draw there fire, give the civilians a chance to evacuate," her face was still but when she looked up her charcoal colored eyes glittered with fire. "How good a shot are you?" she questioned, edging along the wall towards the door and peering out cautiously.

"Pretty good," replied Leonard, following behind her. "But I've never fired one of those before,"

"Fine, set up behind the front desk, I'll go upstairs and shoot through the window at any nearby patrols, when they bust through the door take them out, make your shots count we don't have any spare clips, got all that?"

"Yes M'am, you realize this plan almost certainly ends up with us dead right?" he replied calmly, vaulting over the front desk and checking the clip in his newly acquired pistol.

"Oh yes, any problems?" if there were she didn't want to hear them, she was already climbing the stairs to her position.

"Not really," he called before she left. "I figured I'd have to pay back all those army hours I spent reading one day," he grinned and trained his sights on the doorway. Tonight was as good a time as any to die.

Iris leaned out of the window and caught sight of an infantry patrol moving slowly down the cobblestoned street. Carefully aligning her sights with the most important looking soldier she squeezed off a shot and watched his chest blossom into a crimson rose. Ducking out if sight in time to avoid the retaliatory fire, she heard orders being shouted in the same foreign tongue as before and using one of opened window's panes as a makeshift mirror caught sight of most of the squad leaving to storm the library, only two remained behind to keep her pinned. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion as the attackers split up she moved into the window again and got off a barely aimed burst that miraculously winged one enemy. Moving into the other window, the one her opponent hadn't noticed negated his hastily sought cover; she held her breath and fired a bullet into his head, rewarded with the sight of the enemy collapsing into an untidy heap. Suddenly the piercing cry of a flashbang alerted her to the second fire team's assault; she headed down the stairs to assist Richter, rifle at the ready.

Downstairs, Leonard had sensibly ducked beneath the desk to avoid the worst effects of the flashbang, immediately after the flash part he swung up and took aim at the infiltrating troopers, firing three rounds into their massed forms. The only survivor tripped over a falling comrade and fell behind a couch. Turning to catch sight of De Lys he motioned for her to keep the enemy pinned and began a flanking maneuver. Stalking through the shelves so familiar to him Richter emerged a few meters behind the soldier, who was otherwise occupied trying to avoid the carefully aimed bullets De Lys sent his way from time to time. Crouching and taking up a two handed firing stance Gunnery Sergeant Guthrie would have been proud of he fired once; the bullet entered the man's shoulder and exited out through the bicep on the other side. Screaming and dropping his rifle the man turned and saw Leonard, an instant later a second bullet hit him in the forehead, killing him instantly. Waving to De Lys Leonard jogged over to the pile of bodies and began collecting ammo, a rifle for himself and some ration packs. As De Lys watched the doorway for more enemies he divided the loot in half and handed De Lys her share.

"We make a pretty good team huh Lieut?" he asked a little too loudly, the sounds of battle still ringing in his ears.

"Yeah, eyes up we got more incoming down the street, get to the second story I'll lead them in then when they take this room fire down from the balcony on their backs. We should be fine as long as they don't have any" her orders were cut off by a high pitched whistle that grew rapidly louder. "ARTILLERY GET DOWN!" she cried as they both dived to the ground.

Her eyes watering and her eyes ringing and probably bleeding Iris realized she was lying on her back, her legs pinned by a fallen shelf. Dimly aware of shadowy figures moving in the doorway she snatched the rifle near her up and warded them away with a burst of fire, hardly feeling the recoil or hearing the shots being fired. Despite her desensitized state she was aware that the situation had deteriorated significantly. The enemy had artillery in place and was obviously willing to use it on civilian structures. Holding any unfortified position would be suicide. Through the dust she suddenly glimpsed the book she had been reading lying on the floor next to her. The book was opened to a page somewhere in the middle, which was odd because she distinctly remembered buckling it up earlier, she surmised that it must have been blown off by the shell but the book itself was remarkably undamaged. She struggled to push herself up with one hand to read the page.

_Need a hand?_

Except for that one line the rest of the page and the opposite one were empty. Iris tried to laugh but it turned into a hacking cough, leaning over as the blood rushed out of her head she smudged an answer into the page with a finger covered in gunpowder residue.

_YES PLEASE_

Her exchange was cut off by the clunk of metal on wood; a clunk her instinct and experience told her was a grenade. Iris shut her eyes and, consequently, missed the world turning to fire.

She opened her eyes again and found herself in a tree she had never seen before.


	3. Chapter 3

The worst thing about waking up in a tree is that you generally fall out of it pretty soon after. Iris managed to avoid this fate but only by clinging desperately to the thick branch she found herself on. Cautiously lowering herself to the ground, she took stock of her situation and come up with three different scenarios leading up to her current predicament.

Option 1: After the grenade went off she had died, this was Heaven, or Hell, or some other afterworld.

Option 2: After the grenade went off she had survived but fallen unconscious and been captured by the enemy, who had patched her up and then left her in a tree, presumably to amuse themselves.

Option 3: After the grenade went off she had survived but fallen unconscious and been found by friendly forces… who had patched her up and then left her in a tree. While the most likely two scenarios were the ones where she had survived neither took into account the fact that she was wearing clothes she'd never seen before or the fact that everything was so _big_. All the clothes Iris remembered wearing were gone. In their place she was now dressed in soft, shin length, leather boots and cream colored shorts of something similar to cotton, her shirt was made of similar material in a slightly lighter color and was slightly to large for her, causing it to whip around her chest and wrists, to cap it off there was a hooded cloak in a startlingly rich shade of forest green that reached down to the backs of her ankles and a wickedly curved dagger the length of her forearm hang from the leather belt around her waist. The whole outfit was at least easy to move in and cool in the summery heat but was a little childish (excepting the dagger) for her tastes, and she still hadn't figured out why the world had suddenly gotten bigger. The trees, the birds even the blades of grass seemed not only taller but wider.

Her musings were interrupted by the shrill caw of a bird that was either impressively large or impressively loud for its size and the sound of a man cursing loudly from the same direction, drawing her dagger she hurried off to investigate.

"YOU INFERNAL CREATURE!"

"CRAWW!"

"IT'S BEEN SIXTY YEARS, YOU DO KNOW THAT?"

"CRAWRAWWW!"

"IT'S BEEN SIXTY BLEEDING YEARS AND THE ABSOLUTE SECOND I GET HERE WHO BUT YOU WOULD BE WAITING FOR ME? YOU'RE LIKE AN ITCH THAT CAN'T BE SCRATCHED!"

"CRAW!"

Iris jogged into a clearing to behold a sight that, five minutes ago she would have confidently bet her military pension she would never see. At one end of the clearing a rotund bird the size of a shrimp trawler hopped and crowed in an ecstasy of rage. At the other end of the clearing, dressed in loose flowing Japanese style robes under a sturdy looking leather vest and boots similar to hers was, unbelievably, the librarian Mr. Clemens, the thin man with his coppery beard and half moon glasses who had greeted her cheerfully whenever she stopped by to look for Richter. He looked younger now, the glasses were gone and the sleeveless garment revealed well toned arms terminating in leather gloves with the fingers removed for dexterity. One of these gloves rested casually on a sword belted around his waist, a sword the exotic weapons course she remembered attending identified as a katana.

"You know what? Fine. Fine, if this is how you want to play this you supremely irritating creature if you want to waddle into death's welcoming arms I'll be happy to oblige. BRING IT!" This appeared to incense the bird even more and with a piercing war cry it lifted itself off the ground with its stubby wings and swooped at the katana wielding librarian. Iris cried an indistinct warning but it turned out to be unnecessary, as the bird careered into him Mr. Clemens angled the scabbard of his blade slightly and withdrew it in a long sweeping arc that ripped into the bird's chest and slashed through its side as the bird fell past him. As the bird's momentum carried it past its intended target and crashing into some trees the librarian crouched to wipe his blade clean on the grass and stood up, sheathing his katana with a little twirl. Iris ran over to him as the bird picked itself up with a caw and flew away.

"Hello little girl, Lost? It's really not safe for someone your age here" he turned and warned her, not unkindly.

"My age! You're the one who's over seventy! And who're you calling little girl? And why are you so tall," She asked, realizing as she reached him that her height topped out at just over the hilt of Mr. Clemens' katana.

"I'm sorry have we- Lieutenant De Lys?" he asked in surprise getting a look at her face.

"Yes! Now answer the question, why is everything so Goddamn big?" Going down on one knee to draw level with her face Mr. Clemens rubbed his head and broke the news as gently as he could.

"Ah, Lieutenant, the world hasn't gotten any bigger. In fact you've gotten quite a bit smaller; you look about twelve to me,"

"What?" he watched in bemusement as she sprinted over to a nearby stream and examined herself in the water, revealing indeed a young girl aged around twelve and a skinny one at that.

"How, how did this happen?" She whispered, falling back into a sitting position.

"Well, have you written in any books lately?"

"N-No," Iris replied too quickly, suddenly aware that a librarian might disapprove of writing in books.

"It's alright you're not in trouble, if it's the book I'm thinking of it probably wanted you to write in it," he chuckled and sat down next to her.

"Ok… Do you remember how the town was attacked last night?"  
>"Yes, it would have been hard to miss however the only available weapon I had was an old kendo shinai so I elected to leave the fighting to the professionals,"<p>

"Probably a smart move," Iris nodded and retold the events of the previous night.

"Hmmm," Mr. Clemens stroked his pointed beard thoughtfully "It definitely sounds like you've had a run in with the grimoire, I suppose the matter at hand is to welcome you to Ivalice,"

Ivalice? So you know this place?" Iris asked in surprise dangling her feet over the edge of the bank.

"Yes, Some years ago the same book you wrote in transported me here for a time,"

"Sixty years ago?"

"Yes, It was a longtime ago, but some things never change," Mr. Clemens spoke thoughtfully, gazing in the direction the bird had flown off in,"

"You've fought that bird before?" Iris inquired, following his gaze.

"Many times before, and I'm sure I'll fight him many more times, he's persistent like that,"

"So," Iris began "Tell me about Ivalice,"

"I suppose I should, seeing as we'll be here for the foreseeable future," Mr. Clemens leaned back on his hands. "Well The most important thing to remember here is that magic is not only possible but pretty common here. It's used for fighting, healing and even refereeing,"

"Refereeing?"

"Yes, whenever a clan, a mercenary group, fights its judge presides over the battle and providing the clan doesn't break the rule for that battle they will return to life after the battle if they are killed,"

"That doesn't seem credible," frowned Iris, staring at her annoyingly youthful reflection.

"I couldn't believe it when I came here either but I've witnessed it myself many times, its strange though, I'm a member of a clan, or else my clothes from the real world wouldn't have changed but I couldn't feel our judge when I fought Klesta,"

"Maybe… your membership expired?"

"Maybe, but last time I was here you used to hear stories about retired clan members who forget to officially leave the clan being saved from death decades later, something strange is going on here," Mr. Clemens got to his feet and offered Iris a hand. "Come on, I'll talk as we walk, if we're where I think we are there should be a town not too far from here," As the walked Mr. Clemens elaborated more on the world they were in.

"There are six sentient races in Ivalice including us," he explained "There are the Bangaa, they look like very large, upright lizards but don't ever call them that because they tend to be very strong, skilled at fighting and they consider it extremely insulting. There are the Moogles, they're small and covered in white fur, have small wings that help them jump and a large pom-pom on their head of which they are extremely protective. They're usually good with their hands and machinery, Ivalice would probably fall apart without them. They usually aren't front line fighters but if they are it's because they're good so watch out," Stopping to pick some wild berries Mr. Clemens continued his lecture. "There are also the Viera, they resemble humans greatly but are generally taller, dark skinned, have… rabbit ears and if there are male ones I haven't seen any. They're generally very nimble and on the battlefield they tend to be archers or scouts, if they're fighting close up they prefer rapiers and they're also very in tune with nature, making them dangerous mages, particularly their summoners,"

"The most dangerous mages of all are usually Nu mou though. They're not very tall and rather rotund looking creatures with large ears and grey fur. Widely considered to be the most intelligent of the six races, though I've met plenty of stupid ones, and are naturally talented at wielding mages, if you want to wipe out your enemy in one, flashy attack a Nu Mou mage would be your best bet. The last two races are found more commonly on Ordalia, an island to the North East of here having only recently started to migrate over. The first is the Gria; they're another all female race that have horns and wings that, unlike those of Moogles, allow them to fly for extended periods of time, making them valuable members of any clan. Many people consider them cute because of their small size and colorful hair; possibly in response they can be very ferocious on the battlefield. They generally aren't very good at magic though as they have short attention spans but some Gria do have an innate ability to control the weather that can be dangerous," Finishing his berries Mr. Clemens wiped his mouth and spoke some more.

"The last race is the Seeq. For lack of a better word they are rather fat and resemble pigs to a large degree. Unlike Bangaa they take no particular offense to being called pigs but are always looking for a fight so you may want to simply avoid them altogether. They are widely considered to be the least intelligent of the six races though they possess plenty of cunning. Trusting a Seeq is dangerous and generally unwise but if you earn their loyalty they're some of the best allies you can find anywhere, they're much stronger and faster than their physique would lead you to believe and the angrier they get the stronger they get. They are however the least talented mages anywhere. A Seeq mage is quite often more a danger to their own side than their enemies," As he talked Iris recalled the illustrations from the book and realized they had shown the races Mr. Clemens was talking about, whatever was happening the book was definitely involved. "And, of course, there's us, the Humans or Humes as we're sometimes called. Of the six races Humans are considered the most versatile, we make passing good mages, our frontline troops can be impassable walls of defense or so dangerous their enemies perish before they clear their blades from their scabbards and down in the green lands any Human worth their salt can hit a cockatrice on the wing from a field's length away with a good bow. Many people also consider us to be the most ambitious race, which can be a compliment or an insult and it might be part of the reasons almost all organized crime is run by humans. The royal family is Human, though the King has been sleeping for five thousand years for reasons I was never really clear on. The Government is fairly passive really they take in taxes and shell out the money to pay for clans to do anything serious, because of the judge magic any little problem generally ends up with a bunch or mercenaries being hired. Its not bad money though," Suddenly they came up to a small village, thatched roof cottages clustered together and puffed smoke out of their chimneys, from one of the buildings an old sign with the word Inn engraved on it dangled in the wind.

"So you were in a clan? How did you join? What did you do?"

"Oh… I sort of fell into it really, I ended up studying the art of the parivir, we focus purely on offense and much of the time our battles are over before they begin,"

"I see. Is this the place you were thinking of?" she asked as they approached the Inn.

"Yes, this is Wood village you must try the mushroom stew while we're here and it'll be a good opportunity to bring ourselves up to speed, it's been a while since I was last here," Pushing through the door Mr. Clemens approached the middle aged woman behind the bar.

"Good afternoon Madam, my niece and I thought to drop in for a meal and some news; is the mushroom stew still the best in Jylland?" He asked, smiling charmingly.

"Oh yes!" she giggled "I made sure to get the recipe off the original owner when I bought the place, two bowls for yourself and the pretty little girl coming right up," she sung cheerily, causing Iris to scowl darkly. They sat at one of the tables and as the woman bought their food Mr. Clemens casually bought up the subject of news again.

"My Niece and I have been traveling for some time and haven't heard much lately, anything interesting happening in the world at large?" The woman stiffened suddenly and turned away.

"I'm sorry, we don't get much news out here, enjoy your meal,"

"Surely you must have heard something," protested Mr. Clemens

"Enjoy your meal!" she called as she hurried off to wipe down an already spotless table. Mr. Clemens stroked his beard again

"That's unusual; normally inns are a breeding ground for rumors and news from all the travelers passing through,"

"You must have been traveling long and far to have not heard the only news of note lately friend," Mr. Clemens and Iris looked up sharply, to see a Moogle dressed in the loose, colorful patchwork of a street performer, his head covered with a jester's hat of the same material. A scar slashed diagonally across his face and flashed in the lamplight whenever he moved his head. "The only thing that counts as news these days is the King's death and the judge's disappearance, but nobody really feels like talking about either event,"

"The King is dead! I thought he had been alive for five thousand years?"

"He was," replied the Moogle, picking his teeth with a sliver of wood as Iris returned hungrily to her stew. "Then some Viera did for him and got magicked away right before Sir Laney did for her,"

"Sir Laney?"

"You really have been out of it friend, Sir Laney is the foremost knight in Jylland, first Moogle to hold the title of shield of the realm in over a hundred years, he's done us right proud that boy," There was an odd character to the Moogle's voice as he mentioned Sir Laney, but Luso was unable to dwell on it as the Moogle continued. "But when the assassin killed the King all the magicks set up to protect him failed so a mage was able to teleport her out, it was a close thing though, witnesses say that there was a drop of her blood on Sir Laney's blade where he started to cut her, now Laney's sworn vengeance and anyone who might know anything about the assassin is being locked up and 'questioned' hence our lovely hosts reluctance to inform you," explained the Moogle. Luso considered this new information before replying.

"Then it seems you've done us a great service friend, I'm Luso Clemens and this is my Niece Iris, I was hoping to travel with a clan into Camoa but you say the judges are gone?"

"Yes, the clans are still in business however, white mages are just in more demand than ever before, nobody sane travels without someone skilled in healing, I myself have been here for weeks, if you happen to know a mage it might be beneficial for us to travel together, safety in numbers and all that. I'm Jydn by the way, though there are many that just call me the Grin, on account of my charming disposition" Luso reached over and shook Jydn's hand.

"It's a pleasure, I'm afraid I don't know any white mages, but I might know where to find one,"

_Looking for a new member to fill out your roster?_

Inquired the sign on the run down hut's door, Luso knocked firmly, causing the door to creak alarmingly.

"Hello? We're looking for a new member, a healer if at all possible," called Luso, stepping inside the derelict hut.

"Ho, ho," a voice inside creaked, its owner plainly in as much disrepair as the hut. "That's what they all say, have you got any healers? We're looking for a healer do you know any?" The speaker mimicked and hiccupped violently, Luso stepped in to investigate and found a miserable looking Nu Mou sitting on the floor, a near empty bottle of liquor near him.

"No one's *Hic* looking for anything except healers and all the *HIC!* healers have clans," The Nu Mou took another swig from the bottle and continued. "Go away, I can't help you; I can't help anybody anymore,"

"That's a shame, my old clan used to come here for all our new recruits back in the day," Luso walked over and gently took the bottle from the Nu Mou, who offered scant resistance, he sighed in response.

"Oh those were the days, back when Clan Gully were on their way up some of my best customers that clan,"

"Yes and the people we took on here were always the best, we never went anywhere else," The Nu Mou eyed him and through the liquor induced haze recognition dawned in his crinkled old eyes.

"Luso? My but you were just a boy back then, oh I forget myself, you Humes grow up so fast, I wish I had tidied up, one of my best customers visiting little old me after all this time and my house is a wreck, how are you boy?" Chattered the Nu mou as he enthusiastically pumped Luso's hand, his drunkenness seemingly forgotten.

"Not too bad old timer, my Niece, my friend and I were hoping to travel to Camoa and thought it might be best to have a healer along in these troubled times," The Nu Mou sighed again.

"You thought right my friend, I wish I could help you but all the healers in the village were hired long ago, or pressed into military service, the whole thing has been very bad for business,"

"That is a shame, you don't know of any anywhere?" The Num Mou shook his head miserably.

"I am sorry, perhaps in one of the larger cities you might have more luck, but traveling without a healer is very dangerous,"

"I see, thank you all the same old friend, Once this mess clears up I'll be sure to recommend your services,"

"I appreciate the gesture, but this mess has no end in sight, you'd best be on your way Luso, I'm afraid I'm setting a rather poor example for your Niece," he hiccupped again and waved them away.

Slowly the party set out, dejected as they were.

"What's our plan now?" Iris asked, breaking the silence.

"We might have to try for Camoa anyway, we won't accomplish anything here, Jydn I'll understand if you don't accompany us but we have pressing business to attend to," Luso explained

"Oh no, I've been stuck in this miserable little village for far too long I'd as soon die from a bandit's blade as boredom. I'm more worried about your Niece though. I know a little about knife fighting; perhaps I should teach her how to use that pretty bauble at her waist,"

"That might be a good idea," nodded Luso, Jydn reached up to scratch his head and then all of a sudden he held a knife to her throat.

"First lesson, a knife that you can't get to in a hurry is just a decoration," he nodded to where the knife's scabbard had twisted away from her hand, jolted by the motion of her hip. "You'll want a second belt or a leather strap to keep the scabbard from moving around like that," Iris flushed and nodded. "Alright, we'll go on ahead, Luso take your time, we'll be quite busy," Luso nodded in amusement and watched the colorful Moogle run ahead, Iris following behind him with a look of single-minded determination etched on her face.

From then on the party's travel took on a rhythm. Jydn and Iris would run on ahead of Luso to some predetermined location and begin sparring, if Iris could hold off Jydn until Luso caught up with them than they would walk with Luso for a while. If however Jydn managed to get his knife to her throat then they would wait for Luso then run ahead to begin again. So far Iris had not been able to fend off the agile Moogle's attacks for very long and was consequently exhausted, sweat was running off her face and into her eyes, off her arms and onto her hands, making the hilt of her dagger harder to hold, She readjusted her grip and crouched low into the defensive stance Jydn had taught her and waited for his next move.

"So you prefer a back handed grip?" he asked her in a conversational manner, twirling his thin, double edged knife in one hand.

"Yes, she replied tersely, wondering if making an offensive would startle him enough to keep him off balance until Luso arrived.

"It's interesting; most fighters with shorter arms prefer a forward grip for that little extra reach," he remarked, slowly circling her like a shark on the hunt.

"I can't get the leverage for it, if I tried to block anything with a forward grip I'd probably break my wrist," she explained deciding against an attack.

"I can see that," nodded Jydn "Still a back hand grip has some advantages," suddenly he switched his own grip to mirror hers and jumped launch a vicious swipe at her midsection. Iris lowered her dagger to intercept and Jydn's knife glanced off of hers, continued its path before switching direction without warning, curving back towards her shoulder and forcing her to jump backwards to avoid the attack. Jydn jumped after her, keeping up the pressure and continuing his lecture.

"You see with a back handed grip you make your first slash and you're immediately in position for a second attack, with a front grip your muscles have to work in a different way," With his free hand he aimed a punch at her thigh causing her to sink to one knee, desperately she rolled away from his overhanded stab and stumbled to her feet a few meters away from him. "Not bad, not bad, the other thing you can do with a back handed grip," Without warning he launched another double slash, Iris was a little better prepared this time, blocking the first strike and stepping outside his second slash, aiming a counter at the hollow of his throat. Unperturbed Jydn left his blade's motion unchecked, but flipped the knife forward and rolled his shoulder into the attack, extending his reach another two inches, bringing the edge to rest against the gap between her ribs. "Is switch to a forward grip, it makes it harder for your opponent to judge if he's out of your range," finished Jydn, withdrawing his blade as Iris sunk to her knees. "That's enough for Today I think, you did pretty well,"

"Yeah not bad, I wouldn't worry too much about practicing though girlie, keep waving that thing around and someone might cut your pretty little face," Iris and Jydn turned to face the voice, not too far from the a human male, clad in a ragged coat not dissimilar to Iris' though much dirtier, had stepped onto the road. Flanking him was another human, this one holding a bow with an arrow nocked and aimed at them and a tremendously fat, orange creature, a Seeq Iris realized, wearing nothing except a pair of leather pants and ugly looking metal gloves, adorned with spikes on the knuckles.

"Ah chocobo dung," muttered Jydn

"In fact," leered the cloaked Human, who was obviously the ringleader. "Why don't you just go ahead and let me hold on to that, a little girl like you might hurt herself, in return for keeping you safe I ask only for the small fee of… say… all your valuables, sound good?"

"Go for the archer, I'll handle the one other two," whispered Jydn, standing up

"You take the Seeq, he looks like the strongest, and I'll take the archer out quickly and hold off the other one until you can help me finish him off," Demurred Iris

"No, it's too much, take the archer and then go get Luso, I'll hold the other two," Jydn snapped, to which Iris shook her head furiously.

"I want the guy in the hood," she whispered back.

"If you two are done I'd like my…fee please," The bandit growled, drawing a chipped and pitted hunting knife from underneath his cloak.

"Not an option," Iris called, making a break for the tree line, as the archer loosed his arrow she slid off her feet and skidded into a tree, pushing off it she barreled into him before he could drop his bow. Iris Slashed her knife across the archer's throat as they moved, pushed the corpse to the side and turned her momentum into a dive to avoid the leader's knife as he jerked it across the space she had occupied a little earlier.

As this played out Jydn swore under his breath and took a running leap at the Seeq; planting both feet firmly into the pig like creature's chest and pushing off into a back flip, succeeding in pushing the enemy off balance he turned to attack the leader but was blocked by the sudden appearance of a wall of rock separating him from the other fight.

"Not so fast pipsqueak," growled the Seeq pulling his foot out of the crater created by the earthshaker technique he had employed. "Yer've started a fight with me and yer gonna finish it," he grinned at his diminutive opponent, revealing a mouth of broken, yellowing fangs.

"You are immensely irritating," sighed Jydn, before launching himself at the much larger Seeq like a furry white cannonball.

"YOU'LL PAY YOU LITTLE BITCH!" snarled the bandit, wheeling to face Iris as she settled into her stance.

"You shouldn't judge people before you get to know them," she replied icily. Grimacing the Bandit knew she was right, he wanted to rush in and make her bleed but his instinct for self-preservation won out and he approached her slowly, knife extended. His first jab was met with steel; she turned his knife aside and cut across his field of vision diagonally, forcing him to turn and jump backwards to avoid the slash at his thigh. Stepping back again to avoid her second slash he bought his knife down in an overhanded stab, instead of dodging Iris blocked it and with a slight twist he locked their blades together and pushed her down to her knees with his superior weight and height. "Little girls shouldn't play with grown ups," he rasped, aiming a kick at her stomach that sent her sprawling backwards. "They'll get hurt," he rasped kicking her again as she struggled to get up.

The Seeq roared and aimed at a punch at the incoming Moogle, who twisted around it and latched onto the Seeq's arm, he raised his dagger and attempted to stab it into the arm but was forced to push off out of the way of a second blow. As he fell to the ground the Seeq launched another earth shaker, a powerful stomp that thrust up the earth in a straight line towards the Moogle's landing spot. Touching down and leaping up an instant later Jydn just managed to avoid the attack, twisting in midair he drew a second knife from under his hat, this one balanced for throwing, and hurled it at the Seeq's squashed looking face. The Seeq avoided the knife easily but as a consequence he missed Jydn sprinting in low. The knife wielding Moogle slashed an outstretched tendon and dived out of the way of the Seeq's enraged counter. Circling the now immobilized Seeq Jydn came from behind faster than the Seeq could turn, landing little cuts before skipping away from the Seeq's blows.

"I don't have time for this," muttered Jydn as he slashed off another chunk of flesh from his opponents shoulder. "Die already!" he jumped onto the Seeq's back and jammed his knife between the first two vertebrae, the Seeq stiffened then collapsed silently. Jydn withdrew his knife and went to help Iris.

Dumbstruck the bandit gazed down at his foot where Iris had embedded her dagger, for an instant he felt nothing and then an intense pain seared his foot.

"YOU BITCH!" he screamed and bought his dagger down into her chest, grinning savagely as she screamed

"CONSEDO!" yelled the Moogle pointing his dagger at the girl, suddenly her scream was cut off and she froze in place. Cursing and stumbling the bandit leader stepped back and readied his knife.

"FEUERA!" called a voice behind him and he burst into flames.

Ignoring the dying bandit leader the mage who had thrown the fira spell hurried over to where Iris lay frozen.

"Can you heal?" demanded Jydn, who reached her at the same time.

"Yes, some," replied the mage, pulling off the white hood from his cloak revealing a head of dark hair that flopped over his face, stopping just before dark eyes that were narrowed in concentration. "What did you do?" Asked the mage, pulling a book out from his satchel and placing his hand on it, causing it to glow softly

"I placed a stop spell on her to halt the bleeding, it will wear off in a few seconds so get to work," the mage nodded and placed his free hand over the gaping wound in Iris' chest

"guerira," he whispered and Iris was bathed in white light as Jydn's stop spell wore off and she started coughing. Miraculously the wound began to close itself and soon nothing was left to show except a shiny, pink scar.

"Well," smiled the mage "You were very lucky little girl, even the scar should disappear in a while,"

"I am NOT a little- wait, Richter?" Recognition bloomed in Iris' eyes.

"I'm sorry have we me- Lieutenant De Lys?"

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"Why are you twelve years old?" They were both silent for a while before answering at the same time.

"Magic," Leonard helped her to her feet and turned to Jydn.

"So you two know each other?" Jydn asked.

"Sort of, she… looked a little different back then," chuckled Leonard, standing up and dusting off the loose, faded blue pants that made up half of his outfit. Iris studied him, the cloak she'd noticed first was a stark white and looked much warmer than hers, it was also hooded although Leonard had thrown it off to reveal his tanned, slightly rounded face. Underneath the cloak was a shirt, also white with sleeves that puffed slightly, more a product of being oversized than having been designed with that purpose in mind. The shirt was tucked into his pants, which looked easy to move in and were tucked into his boots. At the same time Leonard inspected his superior officer with an odd sort of grin that looked like it was about to turn into laughter. "Hey Lieutenant,"

"What?" she snapped, turning back to look for Luso

"You look freaking adorable you know,"

"Hey Corporal,"

"Yes?"

"Shut the hell up," Iris snapped, by this time Jydn was growing even more confused

"Will somebody explain just what is going on?" he asked exasperatedly

"We'd better wait until Mr. Clemens gets here, he'll explain everything," Iris replied, walking over to the pile of ash that was the remains of the bandit leader and retrieving her dagger.

"Wait, Mr. Clemens? He's here too?" asked Leonard in disbelief.

"Yeah and he's pretty handy with a sword, oh here he comes," The party turned back to see Luso approach them, his hands laden with berries. He sauntered up to them and gazed around at the deep gouges in the ground, the dead Seeq, the archer with his throat cut and the very large scorch mark in the middle of the road.

"Well," he said, stroking his beard.

"Well, well you two have a funny idea of training I'll say that much,"


	4. Chapter 4

As the party sat around their fire Luso told their story to Jydn, with the other two adding details whenever the saw fit.

"So…," Jydn began, rubbing his head. "You three are from another world," They nodded

"You've been here before, sixty years ago," he asserted, pointing to Luso, who inclined his head in agreement. "You two haven't," Iris nodded and Leonard failed to look up from his book. "You used to be a fully grown woman," he pointed at Iris

"She was still pretty short though," Leonard murmured and Iris hit him.

"And where you come from, there isn't any magick am I good so far?"

"Yup," Iris answered and grabbed another berry from the pile Luso had collected on his way over.

"And now you don't know how to get back home,"

"I might have an idea," ventured Luso "The book Iris wrote in, known as the grimoire, an old mage told me that it seeks stories, but I think the truth is a little different. After talking to the first person to feel the effects of the book, taking into account my experience and the current situation, I believe the book wants to help people fulfill their wishes. When Marche, the man I talked to was traveled here the book gave something to all of the people that came to Ivalice. His brother, who was unable to walk, regained the use of his legs, Marche himself was a powerful warrior here, a female friend of his had the hair she was ashamed changed to a more normal color; Marche's other friend, the one who found the book was taunted regularly at school and became a prince in Ivalice. When I found the book I was supremely bored, I only wanted an adventure and the book certainly gave me that," He chuckled and his eyes took on a far off quality until Jydn coughed deliberately. "Oh, yes. And when you two came here, Leonard can you imagine anything better than a world where you can become powerful simply by reading?" Leonard looked up, shook his head and went back to becoming more powerful.

"What about me!" Iris insisted. "I didn't want to be a little kid again!"

"I'll admit the theory isn't perfect, I still don't know why I've returned, though it might just be to act as your guide, perhaps Lezaford will know,"

"Lezaford? The court mage who created the judges?" Jydn looked at Luso sharply

"Yes, he's an old friend of mine who might be able to help us,"

Luso got up and stretched "Well, I'm sure it will all work out, if we push a little we can make Camoa with time to spare tomorrow. In the meantime I think we'd better have someone on watch, I'll take the last shift because I'm old and I get up early anyway, Iris you should get some sleep too,"

"Hold on I'll take the first watch, I'm not tired," she argued from her cross legged position.

"You aren't taking a watch, you need more sleep than us," Luso told her shortly, getting onto his sleeping mat.

"I'll be fine, I'm not tired besides I don't want to be the only one not taking a watch!" she insisted, as Luso turned over Leonard took up his case.

"It's not that we're babying you or anything Lieutenant," he reassured her. "It's just that you're body is still growing, it physically has to rest more than ours and we really only need to take three watches anyway," Leonard explained gently

"This sucks! I'm not even tired!" Iris fumed but reluctantly moved to her mat, where she promptly fell asleep within seconds.

Leonard turned to Jydn, who was sharpening his knife on a stone buckle designed for the purpose.

"So do you want the first watch?" Whoever took the first watch would get the most uninterrupted sleep and as such it was the most desired shift.

"Oh no, you have it, I get to sleep quite quickly," replied Jydn

"No you should take it," insisted Leonard. "You fought much longer than me and you were training with Iris before that, you must be exhausted," he reasoned and Jydn nodded and stretched.

"Well, if you insist, I am rather tired thank you; I'll wake you in a few hours?" Leonard nodded and put the grimoire back in his satchel.

"Sleep well,"

"Thank you," replied Leonard, turning over and closing his eyes. Jydn stood up and moved to put out the fire and wait out his watch in a more discrete location.

Iris yawned and sat up gazing around the campsite and blinking in the early morning sunlight. To her left Luso was sitting with his back to a rock cleaning his sword.

"Morning Lieutenant," he greeted her.

"It's just Iris, really after all that's happened,"

"In that case you should probably stop calling me Mr. Clemens, I'm trying to forget how old I am and you keep reminding me," he smiled and she returned it.

"Done, can I help with anything," she asked before standing and packing up her mat.

"Why don't you have a look around, see if you can find some things for breakfast?" he suggested "Those berries we were eating grow on a Quintry bush, they grow to about your waist, the leaves are silvery and have papery feel to them. Avoid mushrooms because it's very hard to tell if they're poisonous or not, if you can find a Crawley's oak the nuts are good this time of year,"

"OK, is there anything else you'd like?" she asked, tying her knife belt around her waist, careful to secure the scabbard with the spare belt Jydn had generously provided her with.

"Yes, if you can find some Wrigglevine, a vine that grows on some of the trees around here, the leaves are heart shaped and a pale bluish color on the underside, if you can find some of that bring the leaves back, you chew a mouthful and spit it out and it'll clean your teeth," Luso told her, pleased that his Jylland herb lore had remained mostly in tact.

"Alright I'll keep an eye out for it," Iris replied sunnily, feeling strangely lighthearted.

As Iris wandered off Jydn and Leonard began stirring. Leonard stood up and announced his intention to wash in the nearby stream that gurgled happily in the background. Jydn walked over to Luso and sat down next to him.

"Quiet watch last night?" he asked, scratching his head under his hat.

"Oh yes, perfectly uninteresting, yourself?"

"Quiet as the audience at an all Bangaa poetry recital,' agreed Jydn and Luso chuckled.

"Don't think I've heard that one before," he mused "Which reminds me, not meaning to be rude or anything but I've noticed you never say Kupo Jydn," Luso remarked.

"That's true for sure, nothing rude about it. Truth is my Father was a fairly renowned poet, he felt that with so many ways to express an idea in beautiful, unique ways it was nothing short of lazy to use one to say so many different things. He never used it and I just picked the habit up off him I suppose,"

"Interesting, thanks for sharing Jydn,"

"Think nothing of it my friend, would you tell me though, Leonard refers to Iris as 'Lieutenant' I wouldn't have thought they'd be the kind to have nicknames for each other," as he spoke Jydn glanced in the direction Leonard had gone

"Ah… Lieutenant isn't a nickname, it's a rank, both Iris and Leonard are soldiers back home, Iris is an officer and in fact outranks Leonard,"

"Really?" Jydn asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Surprised? That girl's tougher than she looks" Luso chuckled.

"About Iris? Not too much, Leonard doesn't really seem the type though," Jydn said and Luso nodded.

"I'd agree with you honestly, he always spent as much time away from the base as he could, I'm sure he has his reasons though," Luso reasoned as he caught sight of Iris returned, her arms laden with nature's bounty.

"Looks like breakfast has arrived, would you find Leonard, we'll be heading out shortly after we eat," Jydn nodded in response and hopped off his seat to find the mage.

"Is that Camoa?" Iris asked excitedly as the group crested a hill and caught their first view of the sprawling city of squat, mud brick buildings in varying shades of ochre. Luso nodded and Iris grabbed Leonard, dragging him to the city.

"I guess you two are going sightseeing," Luso called after them and Leonard nodded resignedly. "Jydn and I might take a drink; meet us at the Netwaw inn when you get tired. Leonard waved an arm to signal that he'd heard and allowed himself to be dragged away in search of adventure.

The older half of the party made their way towards the inn Jydn remembered at a leisurely pace, talking as they went.

"I've been meaning ask Jydn, now that we're here what do you plan to do?' Luso queried his companion.

"I don't really know myself, I suppose I'll ply my trade as a street performer for a while, you can usually get a pretty good crowd here," Jydn replied as the pair walked past a Viera dancing to flute music, circumventing the appreciative watchers.

"Hmmm," Luso stroked his beard in the manner that signified he was tossing an idea around in his head.

"It sounds like an idea's gotten stuck in your head friend; you'd better let it out before it breaks something," Jydn suggested dryly.

"Well I was thinking, I'll be traveling with Iris and Leonard for a while, with us three and you that's a pretty well rounded team, I think we could give the clan business a shot. I know a lot of people that started with less and made it," Luso told him earnestly, obviously warming to his subject.

"You think so? I've never been in a clan before," Jydn hedged.

"Well I was in a pretty successful one for a while, you and Iris make a pretty good team and I think Leonard's got a real talent for high magick," Luso countered, enjoying the argument.

"I notice you left yourself out of that count old timer," observed Jydn wryly.

"Oh well, I might not be as fast on my feet as you young'uns but I know which end of a blade to stick in the other guy," Luso replied airily, aware that Jydn's resistance to the idea was mostly token by this stage.

"Weeeelllll," Jydn scratched his head, Iris had told him about the encounter with Klesta so he was aware that this was a gross understatement. "When you put it like that it sounds almost plausible, we'll talk about it when Iris and Leonard return," Jydn turned and headed for the inn, Luso followed, stroking his beard in triumph.

"Whoa, look at that!"

"Hey don't say that, it's rude," Leonard reprimanded Iris as the massive lizard like creature turned and fixed a beady eye on her.

"Oh, sorry, uh sir," Iris apologized awkwardly, stepping back.

"Hrrmmph, think nothing of it human," The creature replied gruffly "Care to look at my wares?" the Bangaa asked politely, at least Leonard assumed it was being polite.

"We don't have any money at the moment," apologized Leonard, but Iris had already left his side and circled around the Bangaa to investigate his stock, which turned out to be jewelry.

"Bah, looking's free, you might tell your friends how impressed you were who knows?" the Bangaa waved a hand and Leonard followed him into the silk tent where Iris was already buzzing around like an over stimulated humming bird.

"These are beautiful," admired Leonard, gently fingering a delicate silver chain with a tear drop shaped ruby veined with gold that chased over the gem in elegant lines and circles. "Did you make these?" he asked the storekeeper who chuckled at the question.

"Hrah, not likely, no these are Viera made, finest jewelers in the land, you won't find better anywhere in town," the merchant posited proudly.

"They're so pretty!" exclaimed Iris, careful not to disturb the sparkling array of baubles. "I wish I had the money to buy something," she sighed and Leonard watched her curiously; Iris had, to his knowledge, never worn jewelry back in St. Ivalice.

"Hrrmph, Maybe you two could do me a favor," suggested the Bangaa, who was secretly very fond of children. "A client of mine commissioned a piece but cancelled the order just after it was completed. His wife had a fondness for cruzle brass as her Father used to mine it, so he gave me a pebble that was the first thing he ever gave her and asked me to have it fashioned into a pendant of brass for the lady," The Bangaa explained, heading to the back of the tent to rummage for the piece in question. "Well unfortunately the two had a falling out and he cancelled the order, but it didn't get down to the smith in time and she finished the piece, which is quite pretty but because of the materials being so cheap no one will want to buy it, Ah!" in triumph the Bangaa held up a chain and dangled it in front of them. It was indeed pretty, though not as bright as gold the artistry in its design was evident, each link in the chain formed a different symbol and the stone, merely a polished river pebble, had been molded by the currents into a heart shape. "Anyway, I can't afford to leave the store for too long but I promised my sister I'd check in on our Aunt, who is of ill health, if I give you some money would you visit her and buy anything she needs? In return I'll give you the pendant free of charge," The Bangaa propositioned the pair equally; unsure of who exactly was in charge.

"Oh we can do that! Right Leonard?" Iris replied earnestly, eyes firmly glued to the pendant glittering in the light.

Yes we'd be happy to help you; we weren't really doing anything,"

"Oh thank you, thank you!" The merchant deposited a small sack of coins in Iris' outstretched hand. "She's very old so she shouldn't give you much trouble, if she says she doesn't need anything buy her some cresslia tea and leave the rest of the money on her dresser," The merchant waved them off and went back to work with a smile on his crinkled face.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" Iris called, after knocking on the door of the address the merchant had given them.

"WHAT! Whaddya want?" a voice cracked with age snapped back.

"Oh, your nephew sent us to see if you needed anything," Iris replied, in response someone inside got up and thumped to the door. It opened to reveal a hunched and wizened Bangaa obviously getting on in years.

"Hraa! So the lazy wastrel couldn't even be bothered to visit his own dying Aunt! He has to send his lackeys!" growled the old Bangaa peering threateningly at them.

"We're not really lackeys," began Leonard.

"Quiet lackey!" snapped the Bangaa "I bet he gave you some money too buy me trinkets, as though that would fix my problems,"

"He did actually," replied Iris, refusing to be cowed. "Was there anything you needed?" she inquired in a too sweet tone.

"Bah, I suppose now that you've wasted my time yammering on there's a few things I need picked up," she turned and rummaged for something behind the door and handed them a list. "I will be sleeping when you get back, leave it at the front door and don't wake me up!" she snapped and slammed the door. Iris stuck her tongue out at the closed door and examined the list.

"What a cow! There's like fifty things on this list, I've never even heard of half of them!"

"It's hard to believe she's related to that merchant," agreed Leonard, following Iris back towards the business district.

"That poor guy, no wonder he didn't want to visit her! Come on Leonard, I bet if we ask around we can find all this stuff in an hour or so!" she declared, grabbing his arm.

In the end it took them quite a bit longer. Only one or two of the items had been stocked in the same store and many of the stores were located in different districts, it was almost as though the list had been devised to make life as difficult as possible for anyone attempting to complete it.

"I think… I think that's everything," Leonard said as he wiped one hand across his brow, the afternoon heat was considerable and his cloak had not been designed for such an environment.

"Yeah! Ha I bet that old dragon thought we'd given up! C'mon Leonard let's get this stuff back to her and see that merchant," Iris picked up her bag and motioned for him to follow. Leonard was unsure when he had stopped being Corporal Richter and started being Leonard to Iris. He caught himself, probably around the same time she had stopped being Lieutenant De Lys and started being Iris to him, it was very difficult to think of the young girl weaving her way through the busy street as the career driven Lieutenant slowly going insane in the sleepy town of St. Ivalice.

Cautiously leaving behind their shopping at the old Bangaa's house, careful not to disturb the woman's slumber, they closed the door quietly and set off for the merchant's tent.

"Ah! My young helpers have returned! Any problems," beamed the merchant, welcoming them in.

"None at all!" Iris beamed back, Leonard felt like a roof with so many beams being thrown about.

"Ha ha, she must have liked you; she can be somewhat set in her ways sometimes so I was a little worried," The merchant explained as he walked back for the pendant.

"Oh no! We got along splendidly!" Iris lied though her teeth

"Well good, thank you so much for this; it's so nice to meet young people willing to help out the people around them!"

"Please, it was fun!" Iris smiled, as Leonard marveled at how effortlessly she turned on the charm inherent to small girls.

"Well it was a very big help to me and as promised here's your pendant!" the merchant replied, fixing it around her neck

"And might I say it looks very nice on you, much better than lying in the back of my store!" he added, smiling as Iris admired the pendant in a mirror. "I only wish I had something for you young man, oh!" and with that the Bangaa hurried back to his storage chest. After returning he produced an intricately woven leather thong with a carved wooden charm affixed to it.

"Now this I did make, it's a good luck charm I gave to a friend sometime ago, however he left it behind on a visit and I was unable to return it to him before he passed away, he was in a clan you see, it's a dangerous job,"

"Are you sure?" asked Leonard, inspecting the intricately carved symbol.

"Oh yes, I hate to see jewelry unworn, they're like stories nobody's heard, too sad," The merchant shook his head, causing his large ears to whip through the air. "Besides, I think he'd like you," and with that the friendly merchant saw them off and the pair headed for the Netwaw inn.

Arriving, Iris and Leonard slumped down next to each other at the table Jydn and Leonard were occupying, gratefully accepting a glass of chilled fruit juice that was the local delicacy.

"So," began Luso as they drank. "Jydn and I were talking and we thought between us four we could start a passing good clan," he finished. Iris and Leonard looked at each other warily.

"…What exactly does a clan do?" Iris asked suspiciously for the both of them.

"Oh all sorts of things really," replied Luso airily. "Defense contracts, odd jobs, favors, that sort of thing, so what do you think?"

"No thanks!" they replied simultaneously.


End file.
